Established in 1765 by Elizabeth, the first Countess of Ilchester, as a kitchen garden for her nearby castle. Developed since then into a magnificent 20 acre garden filled with rare and exotic plants from all over the world. For the last twenty years the curator of Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens has been Stephen Griffith. He has masterminded the garden's renaissance following a great storm in 1990. Many new exotic and unusual flowers have been introduced.